Renaissance Commercial and the emergence of the bourgeoisie
The Commercial Renaissance is directly linked to European expansion against Islam. The Crusades consolidated the reopening of the Mediterranean, re-establishing commercial links between the West and the East. Also expanded the markets and intensified the use of money - because the Crusaders seized currency or precious metals later amoedados.
Contact with Muslims taught the Christians certain business techniques, such as accounting, the use of bills of exchange and bank concept.
Within Europe itself, several factors contributed to the progress of trade. The end of the Arab invasions, Normans, Hungarian and Slavonic produced a sharp population growth and, consequently, expand markets.The availability of skilled labor led to the cultivation of new land, whose occupants were established under the condition of free men.
Meanwhile, the feudal system , whose production was suitable only for local consumption, could not meet the growing demand, becoming incompatible with the new historical conditions. Its crisis and decay would take him to the disintegration centuries later.
Since the production of the fief became insufficient to sustain all its inhabitants, many of them began to leave. This happened both with the villains (who freely left) as the servants (who fled, or were sometimes driven by their masters). These marginalized elements directed to the urban areas, hoping to make a living there. Participating in a cross, stole, they were entering the escort any caravan or formed gangs of robbers. Any activity served, since that would guarantee its survival. There were those who dedicated themselves to itinerant trade, forming the embryo of what would later be the bourgeoisie.
The trade routes were an essential element of Commercial Renaissance, as they constituted the arteries through which flowed the commercial life of the time. The main routes of Europe were the Mediterranean, the Sea of the North and Champagne.
The Mediterranean route linking Constantinople and Alexandria to European ports. It was dominated by the cities of Genoa and Venice, who had managed to obtain commercial monopolies (fondacos) in the main ports of the Eastern Mediterranean.Venice, for example, monopolized trade with Constantinople.
The North Sea route linking that sea to the Baltic and into the interior of Russia, which followed the ancient paths taken by Varangians (Normans originating in Sweden).Down the course of the Dnieper rivers, Dniester and Don, the merchants reached the Black Sea and from there came to Constantinople, where they sold furs, honey, wheat, amber and metals.
The route of Champagne linked Italy to Flanders through the Champagne region in France. Flanders had numerous manufacturing cloths and a very developed trade, while Italy provided luxury goods produced locally or imported from the East.
The main trade routes were linked to other secondary. The route of England joined the British Isles to Flanders especially the wool trade. To get to Champagne, the Spanish merchants used the route of the Pyrenees; the Germans, the route of the Rhine.
The large number of merchants roaming the routes led them to fix certain points the way to conduct trade - usually places protected by a castle, or route intersections (we transit) .Here, merchants gathered to trade their goods for a predetermined period.
Such meetings received the name of trade . Its importance was immense for the development of trade in the Low Middle Ages . They were seasonal events, created by a fair notice; this, the local lord promised military and police protection to participants, and ensured the operation of an international tribunal to judge the dispute. In return, it reserved the right to charge a head tax - capitation - on all who enter the fair. And the products that touch the ground belong to him by a customary law.
The main fairs in Europe were held in Champagne and attract dealers from all over.Each lasted seven weeks and may be semi -annual or annual. There were also important fairs in Flanders, Italy, Germany, England and Spain. Many places where fairs held it gave rise to boroughs - urban areas with intense commercial life and active artisanal production.
The proliferation of fairs led to the use of bills of exchange (originally fair letters), ie papers worth a certain importance and could be discounted by its bearer in another city.Concomitantly, the wide variety of coins in circulation created the exchange mechanisms;fairs ever had scalpers, who traded for the currencies customers from different sources, the loan interest has become standard practice and the first banking houses were founded.Thanks to all this, began to take place in Europe a primitive capitalist accumulation, although usury is condemned by the Church.
The trade reached its apogee in the thirteenth century; then declined, to make way for merchants with many money changers who exchanged coins for customers establishments based in cities.
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Category: General history
